The Adventures Of Chelle

#180 #48in48 #MorningParagraph

Morning shmorning… Yeah, it is evening. My times are skewed with the holidays taking over. To make up for it, here are a couple of pictures of me with my headgear on Christmas morning…

Wow, I may regret that one later… ha.

As I sit here and type, the three most important people in my life are within reach, under one roof. My husband and kids are in the house, everyone on their own computer… I am blessed. Health, home and happiness. All of them are present.

I miss Dad a whole lot. He should be here. He haunts me daily…. He was such a great Dad. So many years he played Santa for so many kids….

I wish that picture didn’t cut off “Santa’s” head…. But that would be us, heading out to visit Uncle Freddy’s house (and to eat our fill of shrimp cocktail, my favorite). He was the BEST Santa! So much better than the ones in the mall!

After we finished up the parties and the visits from Santa, we would head to Mawmaw and Pawpaw’s house to celebrate their anniversary and open the first Christmas gifts…

Those pictures are from their 50th wedding anniversary. I asked my Aunt Debo about their love story and this is what she told me:

Pawpaw and Great Uncle Baylor would deliver shoes to the coal miners who lived in the boarding houses in Wyoming County on horseback. Shoes that Great Grandpa Taraczkozy repaired in his shoe shop. Mawmaw said he would ride up in the yard where they lived in Glen Rodgers to talk to her. Grandma Herron would let him come in and eat with them. Food that he never had before: pinto beans, cornbread, greens, cooked pumpkin, and such. And he fell in love with her. She had coal black hair and baby blue eyes. He ask Great Grandpa if he could marry her and he told him he would have to ask Cindy (Great Grandma). The plans were made and they set the wedding date for Christmas day. Uncle John and Uncle Gentry, Mawmaw’s brothers got him drunk the night before and he insisted that he couldn’t wait another minute to marry Mawmaw. So, Christmas Eve it was. He bought her a new dress, new shoes, a coat and a purse. She had none of these. They got married in Glen Rodgers, she was 14 and he was 21. They set up house in a little three room home close to Great Grandma’s. Mawmaw could not cook so right before Pawpaw would get home from work, she would go to Great Grandma’s and get a bowl of everything on the dinner table. Pawpaw thought she cooked. She always said how handsome he was, sitting up on that horse. Uncle John got him a job in the mines in Glen Rodgers. Uncle John would say that Mawmaw would get Pawpaw down on the floor and sit down on him with her legs on each side, grab his head up and lay a kisses on him and let his head go and his head would bounce of the floor. She had a massive temper. She would rip his tshirt right off his back or pick up a glass coffee pot and send it sailing towards his head (luckily missing). He took some shit but loved her anyway. He was crazy about her.

Some of my best childhood memories were with my Grandparents. I was blessed to be loved so much. Utterly blessed.

After Mawmaw and Pawpaw’s we would head home, I would go to bed and then I would wake up at 5AM for gifts (amazing as it took a lot of effort to get me out of bed at 7 in the morning on school days).

I would love to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. Hold your loved ones tighter, laugh a little louder and appreciate all your blessings. Life is a crazy ride, you never know what will change and when. Tell someone you love them today! Do it!